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Abstract:
Shokugeki no Soma is about a young boy named Soma Yukihira who embarks on a journey refine his own cooking and surpass his father. To further this his father sets him to join Totsuki Culinary Academy stated as the best in Japan. Soma joins this academy, and to which is where the story takes off. The context of the academy allows Soma to not only meet people his age whom are even more talented than him but also helps him grow outside his own world called is restaurant. For the first 130 chapters boasts several well-written character arcs which not only build Soma as a chef but also establishes the cutthroat education of Totsuki and each of the side characters place within their “Generation”. However, after that the manga changes direction and tries to become something it was not by introducing a villain with little relevance in an academic setting turning the once enjoyable manga into a repetitive battle where the same tropes that once made battles amusing are overused and loses impact. The author in the early chapters of the manga says “Shokugeki no Soma is a cooking manga”, oh the irony. Worse yet the last arc of the manga introduces an event worse villain whom regresses ALL OF THE progression the characters gained the previous particularly one and destroys the flow of the manga reducing it to a bore to read.
[If you want to know more keep reading otherwise just read the first 130 chapters (best parts) but if you are willing to tolerate half decent writing read up to chapter 263 but after that relish in an arc of absolute disappointment, read at your own headache.]
Story:
At the start of the story we are presented with the way cooking will be presented in the manga through a short yet hilarious (First impression) cooking battle where reactions are greatly exaggerated. SnS does this well as it establishes what makes it special and at the same time foreshadows the cooking battles in the future. Here we see Soma’s desire to win against his father through competition building the goal of the series. Then we are placed in a school context called Totsuki Culinary Academy where students are placed in a cutthroat education system where can be expelled for small mistakes and challenges. This not only builds how chefs in this world are created but also explains provides an incentive for students to perform at their best. At this point of the story we are introduced to Erina Nakiri whom acts as the main heroine of the story. Possessing a special talent which places her leagues ahead from many individuals in the story. Doing so establishes her role as a rival to Soma and gives him another goal. Furthermore, her role also expands to the building of the Elite 10, giving Soma further reason to progress as a student. This small arc establishes the direction of the SnS and gives plenty of room for us to see Soma’s growth by giving him incentives to build a foundation where he will build his own style of cooking.
Characters/Story:
Skipping ahead we are then introduced to a new cast of characters whom hold prodigious talents within the same generation as Soma. Each character has their own aspirations to give them a reason to be at Totsuki and have individual styles and which make them memorable and unique. We see our cast put through rigorous education to prepare them as chefs, seeing each struggle with different tasks yet overcoming with their own git. Through this we are presented with the theme of hard work and not being afraid to fail, building a moral message for readers. This theme is combined with subtle foreshadowing builds a sense of camaraderie in our cast. Being described as “Diamonds in the rough sharpening each other”, that by clashing with each other they can become better at their cooking and with each other. [For me it humbled the story making it nothing more than friends going to school and becoming better and eventually becoming chefs and achieving their dreams, this was why I liked it so much.]
The amount of potential here is astounding with so much room to grow for every character unfortunately this is where everything begins to slowly break apart. From here we are introduced to a villain character, now while a villain character is not bad thing, but for the context already built this type of villain WAS A BAD THING. This villain jumps into the story immediately with 0 foreshadowing and felt completely like an asspull, this is furthered with their backstory with Erina as a complete douche to give us a reason not to like them, while this can be argued that it is an understandable backstory, I feel it is a poorly thought out one as it turns into Erina a tragic character and the only reason to sympathise with her is because of her backstory and not her own character. I can point several more reasons to why the villain is a poor choice. Firstly, the context built up contained students working together improve their cooking through each to other within a school environment of cooking, introducing a villain not only compromises that context but changes the kind of story being told. Secondly, while a villain is certainly an aspect to build tension the story, why go so far as to use simple actions abuse and assault to make them seem bad. Here is probably the main reason why I felt this villain was not necessary, they limited growth to only a few characters and just pushes all the other characters out of the window because the focus is changed to defeating this villain. Eventually they undergo a several cooking battles to get rid of the villain and over the course of this battle, they become extremely repetitive. Using what was once an entertaining trope used to describe flavour became overused and diminished the value of victory. It was used so much and eventually stopped being entertaining to see. [For me I got so bored it, I just started skipping chapters to the end to see the result].
Now at the end of the story, all development goes out the window. The last arc of this manga just destroys the little amount of development that the last arc made and regresses it to absolute mush. The characters backtrack on their development and the introduction of a new villain completely breaks this manga. This villain not only regresses any past development but also cripples any potential for future ones. It is because of this character this manga fell so hard, their purpose is meaningless, in conjunction with background villains with no purpose other than fodder to build empty tension. There was 0 depth to their character, motivation to make them look like a big ass prick. Throughout halfway of this arc I wanted the old villain back because this new one made them look like a decently written villain. I want to go into more depth but for the sake of time ill just end it here. The ending did not even clarify anything, there was no proper closure or anything. No ambiguity just a rushed ending arc to show that the manga was cancelled.
Art:
At the end all I can say is that the art is the only redeeming feature of this manga. At the beginning the art was good but towards the end the designs and artwork for food all really stood out. Saeki Shun (artist) is a talented artist and certainly deserves praise for his work, his details in proportions when drawing the reactions to food really stand out when he uses shading to manipulate the “lighting” of the scene and to indicate expression. The food drawn is well designed with great attention to detail. It’s such a shame to see his talent wasted towards the end especially when his art really grew then.
Enjoyment:
As you can tell by this long review, I once really loved this manga. 2 years ago, when I first started to get into it, I was so enthralled by this manga because it had something I rarely find in any other manga, characters whom I became fond of. I was surprised how diverse cooking was and its ability to connect with everyone because of different styles. Particularly, Soma interesting to me because he was not overpowered in talent but in wit and spirit. He did not need to worry about loss because he welcomed failure and learnt from it and when he needed to be practical, he could think for himself. I loved the manga for this and had it been handled differently I would have called it my favourite manga of all time. But from halfway to the end the manga became boring to read yet I still stuck around because it rubbed off on me not to give up on it. The first villain was fine because I admit I did enjoy it however towards the end when the last arc was made, I started to get burnout because it became so repetitive and did not have that same depth it once had.
Nonetheless it was a worthwhile experience and I did enjoy it while it lasted.
Score
Story: 5/10 (first 130 chapters), 6/10 (131-263), 2/10 (264-315).
Art: 8.5/10
Characters: 6/10,
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall Score: 5/10
